Reports in The Irish Times suggest that Nissan is just weeks away from unveiling an electric vehicle to the masses.
Up until now the Japanese car manufacturer, which has formed a successful alliance with Renault with the intention of becoming a pioneer in the field of fully electric cars, has only showcased a variety of concept vehicles. Now however, it is ready to unveil the Nissan Cube – a vehicle that is expected to be a five-seat C segment hatchback that will drive in the same manner as a normal car but will require around seven hours of charging time from a domestic plug or 40 minutes from a special quick charger.
The car will have a range of around 160km, more than adequate for most European drivers who travel less than 100km a day. The company is already said to be working on agreements with rental car companies for special rates when drivers need a car to travel further.
The newspaper got a glimpse of the EV-02 (the Nissan Cube) at Nissan’s headquarters outside Geneva and found it drives better than most electric cars its journalists have already driven. According to its reporter, the MINI E was fast but lost speed rapidly as soon as you took your foot off the accelerator – by contrast, the Nissan Cube is smooth, silent and easy to use.
According to Nissan Europe’s senior vice president Simon Thomas, the electric vehicle will change the way most car owners own a vehicle. It will be a permanent feature and will “change more things than people realise”.
The car is expected to go into production soon with mass production scheduled for 2012. Its battery production is already under way.
